On July 29, columnist Lee Cataluna criticized me for presenting my middle finger during the Hawaii roll call vote for the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention (“Hawaii DNC delegate mars state’s image with crude act,” Star-Advertiser).
Apparently my pithy gesture was more newsworthy than what caused me to be so angry — the complete rigging of the Democratic nomination process that had just been reconfirmed by the disclosure of nearly 20,000 secret emails from DNC headquarters that help prove the cheating, lying, fraud, voter suppression and disenfranchisement, and the award of the U.S. presidency to the candidate who steals it best.
In other words, Cataluna paid zero attention to the reasons for my actions. She failed to ask, “Why?”
Let me help her: Being a delegate cost me a great deal personally, so it’s a reasonable question. I essentially begged for financial help to cover lost wages, travel and lodging expenses, and spent a precious week away from my three young children. I did all of this under the naīve perception that we are in some sort of a democracy. We were told there would be discussions and debates. We were told our candidate would have a fair chance, if we worked hard and followed the rules. We worked hard. We followed the rules. We were lied to.
Simple journalistic curiosity would likely have uncovered the truth along the campaign trail: cancelled exit polls, missing voter registrations, rigged debate schedules, tightly controlled media coverage, etc., all orchestra- ted to ensure a “win” for Hillary Clinton.
The multimillion-dollar Hillary Victory Fund observed campaign spending limits the same way the DNC observes its own candidate selection rules — the rules are observed in the breaking. Only someone living under a rock could have missed the recent email hack and dump; the Star-Advertiser’s own coverage reflects the nationwide bias against Sanders, if one cared to look at it.
At the Democratic convention, the voices of Sanders delegates were silenced by literal and figurative white noise. When we objected to obvious anti-Sanders bias, we were scolded for being disrespectful. We were supposed to sit quietly and watch the four-day Hillary show, applauding on cue. We were not asked for our support; we were ordered to give it, with a strongly implied “or else.”
As a Bernie delegate, I felt cheated, bullied and helpless. Messages were flooding in from friends pleading with us to fight on their behalf, to do something, to say something. But the entire convention was scripted, Hillary was the star, and we were just extras.
My actions have been portrayed as childish and attention-seeking, the bad behavior of a sore loser. Perhaps.
If attention-seeking behavior is the only meaningful way to object, I would plead for more people to stop behaving themselves. Stop allowing your voice to be suppressed because complaining is not polite. There is neither aloha nor politeness in being silent in the face of wrongdoing.
What I saw was wrong. I objected in the only effective way I could.
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CORRECTION: U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer did not give Bernie Sanders supporters an obscene finger gesture at a Nevada convention, contrary to what was stated in an earlier version of this Island Voices commentary that ran Thursday on Page A11. Boxer’s finger-wag has been misrepresented on social media and has since been debunked.
Chelsea Lyons Kent, an organizer for Our Revolution Hawaii, was a Hawaii delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
